After a brief rest from the hectic season back-to-back racing restart, the teams now move on to Singapore, home of Formula One's first night race. With the time difference playing havoc with the drivers - breakfast at midday, dinner at midnight - there's lots to think about as the season begins to ramp up. The championship remains reasonably close, the races are hotly contested each and every GP weekend. What does Singapore hold in store for us?

Event schedule

Fernando Alonso has a 37 point lead in the championship at the moment, but the battle behind him remains both fierce and determined to catch him up. Lewis Hamilton took a well-timed victory in Italy, putting some of those niggling headlines to rest. Meanwhile, McLaren don't seem able to get both sides of the garage working well at the same time, with one driver doing well and the other retiring. Here at Singapore, Alonso tends to do quite well, albeit under questionable circumstances at times.

Session Timetable

Date

Day

Session

GMT +0100

Local

21 Sep

Friday

Free Practice 1

11:00

18:00

Free Practice 2

14:30

21:30

22 Sep

Saturday

Free Practice 3

11:00

18:00

Qualifying

14:00

21:00

23 Sep

Sunday

Grand Prix

13:00

20:00

Support racing for this event includes GP2, Ferrari Challenge, and Porsche Carrera Cup.

The weather

The weather conditions in Singapore can be hot and humid, with a rain storm here or there for good measure. With a lot of the action taking place in the afternoon/night, the temperatures can start to ease a little as the sun goes down, but it's still a brutal atmosphere to race through for two long hours. For the coming weekend, it looks like there is sunshine and storms on the cards.

Singapore, Friday

31℃

Low 25℃

Humidity 77%

Stormy weather

Singapore, Saturday

31℃

Low 26℃

Humidity 78%

Clouds and late storms

Singapore, Sunday

31℃

Low 26℃

Humidity 78%

Scattered storms

Circuit map

DRS Zones

DRS detection

230m before Turn 5

DRS activation

35m after Turn 5

The last race had two distinct DRS zones, but we are back to just the single DRS for Singapore, with the detection occurring just after the first complex of corners, and activation on the following straight. Singapore is one of those tracks that has a multitude of corners to choose from, and the single DRS option may not be enough to make it exciting.

The night race has come under criticism in the past for having less overtaking opportunities than you might like in a new circuit, but this season has given even the worst tracks a new lease of life!

The circuit

Circuit Data

Name

Marina Bay Street Circuit

Location

Singapore

Timezone

GMT +0800

First Race

2008

Laps

61

Length

5.073 km

Distance

309.316 km

Start / Finish Offset

0.137 km

The Marina Bay circuit is still a relatively new destination on the F1 calendar, and there are still tweaks to be made. This year they are mostly minor, with some resurfacing work done at Turn 13 and the outside of the pitlane.

They've also taken up all rubber kerbs and replaced them with a metal alternative - hoping to steer clear of the problems suffered last year with kerbs leaving their bolts sticking up and causing trouble. Felipe Massa, in particular, suffered at the hands of the kerbs during practice, and the FIA were so concerned they removed the rubber kerbs altogether. This year, they're back and made of steel.

The track itself is the complete opposite to the high speed adrenaline rush that is Monza. We're back to street circuits, where traffic dirties up the track year-round, leaving grip a significant problem. There are plenty of bumps to contend with around the track, too, with some great photographs emerging each and every year of the sparks flying out the back of a car.

Tyre compounds

Soft and supersoft compounds

It's a street circuit, so Pirelli are bringing out the two softer compounds again. Look out for the yellow sidewalls (the soft compound) which will also be referred to as the primes, and the red sidewalls (the supersofts) which will be the option. Although we've seen this selection at previous street circuits, Pirelli's Motorsport Director is keen to point out Singapore's unique challenges.

Singapore is quite unusual for a street race though because it’s hot and humid with high speeds, heavy braking areas, and lots of corners: all of which test the tyres in terms of traction and braking.

- Paul Hembery

Press conference schedule

Official press conferences are organised by the FIA and happen four times during the weekend. The qualifying and post race press conferences will take place after the television unilateral interviews.

Press Conference Schedule

Day

Local

Attendee

Representing

Thursday

18:00

Timo Glock

Marussia

Nico Hülkenberg

Force India

Sergio Pérez

Sauber

Kimi Räikkönen

Lotus

Bruno Senna

Williams

Sebastian Vettel

Red Bull

Friday

16:00

Jean-François Caubet

Renault Sport

Robert Fernley

Force India

Tony Fernandes

Caterham

James Key

Toro Rosso

Martin Whitmarsh

McLaren

Toto Wolff

Williams

Saturday

Post qualifying

Three fastest drivers

Sunday

Post race

First three finishing drivers

Race stewards

The FIA stewarding process was changed last year to include a former F1 driver to give added insight. These are the stewards overseeing this weekend's action.